General

Can I sign up for UW Google Apps if I have also signed up for UW Windows Live?

Yes, you can have both a UW Google Apps account and a UW Windows Live account although you must choose ONE location where your @u.washington.edu and/or @uw.edu email will be delivered. You can see or change where your UW email is being delivered on the Manage UW NetID Resources page.

Can I sign up if I already have a personal Google Apps or Gmail account? And what is the difference between a personal Google account and UW Google Apps?

You can sign up for a UW Google Apps account even if you already have a personal account on Google. UW Google Apps is a separate account that allows you to send and receive Google email using your @u.washington.edu and @uw.edu email addresses. A UW Google Apps account provides the benefits of Gmail in an ad-free environment. Google provides many different services and they are used in different contexts. The services are referred to by names like Standard, Premier, Education, Team and Partner Editions. Educational institutions, businesses and others may use Google services by setting up sites with their domain. The University of Washington uses “uw.edu” for our Google Apps for Education service. You may have multiple accounts for different Google services. If you have used another Google Apps service, or have a Standard Google account, you can still activate your UW Google Apps for Education service. The result will be separate accounts at Google. You will use your UW NetID password to access UW Google Apps for Education, but any previous Google accounts will retain the username and password you had already established.

Can I sign up if I once had a MyUW.net account? Will my MyUW.net address continue to work?

Yes. Though the MyUW.net service has been discontinued, former MyUW.net users are welcome to move to UW Google Apps or UW Windows Live. However, there are some important things to note and consider:

UW Google Apps accounts have a default email address of UWNetID@uw.edu. Users can also choose to use their UWNetID@u.washington.edu email address from the Manage UW Google Apps page. If you want to use your UWNetID@myuw.net email address as your return email address, you will need to configure your UW Google Email account by following the instructions in the What is my default return email address and how can I change it FAQ for UW Google Apps.

The signup process for UW Google Apps will change your @u.washington.edu email forwarding if you choose to do so. You should also choose to change your MyUW.net email forwarding as well.

What happens if I had previously signed up for Google Apps with my UW identity?

If you have more than one Google Apps accounts with your UW identity and log in to both at the same time with the same browser, some links you click on in one identity may take you to the other identity. It is OK to have multiple accounts but just be aware of the potential for confusion when navigating through them at the same time.

Why are some UW Google Apps services slightly different from similar services that are publicly provided by Google?

Google offers many different services, both within their “Google Applications” category and others too. The specifics of what is included in any particular service is controlled by Google.

I just got an email asking me to verify my account information for Google. Is it legitimate?

The University of Washington and Google will NEVER ask you to verify your account information via email. If you receive such a request, you should report it as spam and delete it. Do not respond to the message. You should never send personal information, including your account name and password, via email. If you do accidentally share your account information with anyone, please change your password immediately and contact UW Information Technology (help@u.washington.edu or 206-221-5000) for further assistance.

Setup & Access

After I activate UW Google Apps, do I need to configure anything or will it just work?

If you are accessing your UW Google Email through anything other than a Web browser (e.g. a desktop email program or mobile device), you will need to set a separate UW Google Apps password. You can do so on the Manage UW Google Apps page.

Note: If you are trying to access your UW Google Email from outside of the country and the above URL does not work, you can try accessing it at http://mail.google.com/a/uw.edu/

I’m trying to log in to UW Google Apps but I get an error about my credentials not being verified. What is wrong?

Users who have multiple UW NetIDs may receive the following error when trying to log in to UW Google Apps:
If you receive that error, please call the UW Information Technology Service Center at 206-221-5000 to have your UW NetIDs consolidated into a single one.

I have forgotten my UW Google Apps password. How can I reset it?

If you are accessing your UW Google Apps account via a Web browser, you can log in with your UW NetID and password. You don’t need a separate UW Google Apps password for browser access. If you have forgotten your UW NetID password, you can find information on how to reset it here.If you are using a desktop email program or mobile device that requires you to use a separate UW Google Apps password and have forgotten that password, you can reset it on the Manage UW Google Apps page.

How do I use my mobile device with UW Google Apps?

You can find information on how to set up your mobile device to access your UW Google Apps email, calendar, and more on Google’s Mobile Help page. Use the pull-down menu to select your type of phone, then follow the links to learn about the various Google products available for your phone. Your user name will be UWNetID@uw.edu where UWNetID is replaced with your own UW NetID. The password you will need to provide is your separate UW Google Apps password that can be set on the Manage UW Google Apps page. You can also point your mobile device’s Web browser to http://gmail.uw.edu/ to access your UW Google Apps email account after it has been activated. Using the Web browser, you will log in with your UW NetID and password.

Can I use other email applications to read my UW Google Email?

Yes. In addition to using your Web browser or mobile phone to access your UW Google Email account, you may use many desktop email programs such as Outlook, Thunderbird, Mac Mail, and others. Doing so will require the following setup steps:

Use your Web browser to connect to your UW Google Email (remember to use your UW NetID password rather than the separate password you established in step 2). Click on “Settings” in the upper right; click on “Forwarding and POP/IMAP”; click “Enable IMAP” unless your email program must use POP (if so, choose one of the POP options).

Click on the “Configuration instructions” link in the “Settings” page for either IMAP Access or POP Download, depending on the choice you made in step 3. Proceed to choose the appropriate link for instructions on how to configure your email program. Remember that your email address and username will both be your UWNetID@uw.edu rather than username@gmail.com.

Be sure to “Save Changes” to the Settings where you enabled IMAP or POP.

When I try to connect to UW Google Email I get a “Google Apps – Invalid Email” error. What is wrong?

That error indicates that the account used to log in to UW Google Email does not match an existing UW Google Apps account. The error looks something like this:This error may mean your Web browser is already logged in to the UW NetID Weblogin service using a UW NetID for which the UW Google Apps service has not been activated. If you have not yet activated your UW Google Apps service, you should do that first from the UW Google Apps tab on the Manage UW NetID pages.

If you have already activated your UW Google Apps service, quit the Web browser, then try to connect to UW Google Email again by visiting http://gmail.uw.edu/. You should be redirected to the familiar UW NetID Weblogin page to log in. Be sure to enter the UW NetID and password for the account that has already activated the UW Google Apps service.

To check to see if you have an active UW Google Apps service, visit the Manage UW Google Apps page. You should see your account status listed as Active.

How do I change my name in UW Google Email?

If you want to change how your name is displayed on your UW Google Email account, log in to your account at http://gmail.uw.edu/ and click on the Settings link. Click on the Accounts tab and where it says Send mail as:, click on the “edit info” link. A new window will open where you can enter your choice of text for your Name and save your changes.

I have signed up for a UW Google Email account but my existing UW email is not there. What do I need to do to transfer my existing email?

If I have data stored in other Google accounts, how can that be transferred to UW Google Apps?

Some people who use a UW Google Apps account may have email, documents or other data that they would like to move from some other place into UW Google Apps. This document will address transferring data from other Google services. The other services might be a public Gmail or other Google account, or one or another Team Edition sites. The information here should apply when moving data from any other Google site to UW Google Apps. Note that UW Google Apps does not include every service that Google offers. For example, Google offers Blogs via blogspot.com but UW Google Apps does not currently include a parallel service.

Transferring Gmail

Google provides “Mail Fetcher” which will copy messages from other accounts. Google’s instructions for this are on their Get mail from other accounts page.

Transferring Gmail Contacts

You can transfer contact information using the Export and Import features of Google Contacts. Use of Export is straightforward. For information about importing contacts see Google’s Importing contacts and mail page. For Google’s help with Contacts, including troubleshooting import problems, see the Managing Contacts help articles.

Transferring Google Documents

There are no tools for a simple transfer of sets of documents. If you need to move many documents, be prepared for some tedious work. First use Google Documents to select the documents you want to transfer. You may select one or many at a time. Then use “More actions” and export the selected documents to your computer. Afterward, log into your UW Google Apps account and use the Upload tool in Google Documents to copy the files from your desktop computer. Upload will only work with one file at a time.

Transferring Google Sites

There are no tools to transfer Google Sites. Transfer can be accomplished by using a Web browser to open the page to be transferred, having the browser copy (either the display or the HTML view), and then moving to your UW Google Apps Site and pasting the data to a new page. You will almost certainly have to make some changes to get things to display correctly.

Google Sites also disallows the uploading of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files due to various security reasons. There is some discussion of this topic on this Google Sites FAQ page.

Transferring Google Calendars

Depending on your circumstances, you may want to export data from an existing calendar and import that to your UW Google Apps calendar or your needs may be met by sharing the previous calendar with your new one. For help with export and import, see Google’s Import and Export help page. For help with sharing calendars, see Google’s Share your calendar and Share your calendar with specific users help topics. For more help with Google’s Calendar, see the Google Calendar Help site.

Transferring Google Tasks

There is no way to transfer your task data into your UW Google Apps task list. But you can use the “Email task list” feature within the Tasks application to send the data in an email message to your UW Google Apps account. For more help, see Google’s Using Tasks page.

Email Address & Delivery

What is my default return email address and how can I change it?

Your default return email address for UW Google Email is UWNetID@uw.edu where UWNetID is replaced with your own UW NetID. If you prefer to use your @u.washington.edu address, you can update the “Send mail as:” value within Google. To do so:

In the “Send mail as:” section, click on the “Add another email address you own” link and follow the instructions provided.

Make sure you choose to set the new address as your default if you want UW Google Email to automatically use it as your From address.

Please note that if you are subscribed to a mailing list with an address other than UWNetID@uw.edu, you may need to update your From address or your mailing list subscription address in order to continue posting messages to the list.

Why does email I send from my UW Google email to my UW address not get forwarded back and delivered to me at Google?

Google discards messages when they are sent from a Google account (public Gmail or any special Google service like Team or Education edition) and come back to that same account for delivery, unless the To address matches your UW Google Email account setting “Send mail as:” value. This problem affects only email you send to yourself; messages from others are not affected. To configure your UW Google Email account so that messages you send to UW addresses which forward back to your UW Google Email account will not be discarded, you must add to your UW Google Email settings a “Send mail as” entry for each of the UW addresses you might use. For example, the addresses might be:your_UW_NetID@u.washington.eduyour_UW_NetID@washington.eduyour_UW_NetID@uw.eduTo configure your UW Google Email account:

After completing the confirmation, your email to yourself will get delivered. If there are further problems regarding email delivery to Google, check that your UW forwarding is set properly, then consult Gmail support services.

Why don’t copies of messages I send to a mailing list get delivered in my Google inbox?

Google has a built-in filter that keeps messages you send from your Google Mail account to a mailing list from being delivered to your inbox. The message will only appear in your “Sent Mail.” For more information, see Google’s answer to this question.Note that if you are subscribed to a Mailman list, you can edit your subscription options to receive a confirmation of your post even though Google won’t deliver an actual copy of your post. To do so, go to the list’s “listinfo” page, e.g. https://mailman.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/listname (where listname is replaced with the actual name of the list). At the bottom of the page, click on the “Subscribe or edit options” button and then log in. Once you are logged in to the Options page, you can set the “Receive acknowledgement mail when you send mail to the list” option to Yes and submit your changes.

Why do I get an email bounce notification when trying to set my return address in Google Mail?

If the email address you are trying to use as your return address forwards to another address (e.g. you are trying to set your @u.washington.edu address but it forwards to your UW Outlook Live account which uses user@ms.uw.edu), the notification email that Google sends out will be returned to you because it was “forwarded more than the maximum allowed times. “The solution is to change your email forwarding, at least temporarily, to your UW Email account or your UW Google Email account. You can update your UW email forwarding on the Manage UW NetID pages.

If I forward email to my UW Google Apps inbox, will I still have UW spam filtering and my junk-mail folder?

No, but Google uses its own spam filtering and virus checking. For more information see Google’s Spam FAQ.

I have my UW email set to forward to another address. Can I keep doing that and still use UW Google Apps?

Yes, you may activate and use UW Google Apps regardless of where you set your UW email forwarding.

Sharing & Collaboration

Can I give someone delegated access to my email and contacts on UW Google Apps?

Yes, you can give up to ten people delegated access to your email and contacts through their own UW Google Apps accounts without the need to share your password. More information about how to do so can be found on Google’s Grant Access to Your Account page. The process will require the delegate to accept the access and it may take up to an hour for the change to take effect on the delegate’s account.

How can I share my calendar with someone else or open someone else’s shared calendar?

Sharing Your Calendar with Others

By default, your calendar and the events in it are private (viewable only by you). You can, however, choose to share your calendar or specific events with others. For more information about how calendar and event sharing works, see Google’s Calendar Sharing Options for Google Apps page. Remember that if you are sharing your calendar with your colleagues at the UW, you must use their @uw.edu address (rather than @u.washington.edu) so they can access the calendar through their UW Google Apps service.

Accessing Shared Calendars

When someone else has shared a Google calendar with you using your @uw.edu email address, you will receive an email notification and the calendar will automatically appear for you in your list of calendars.

If you think you should have access to someone else’s calendar, click on Add under the Other calendars section and choose Add a friend’s calendar. Enter the email address of the account holder (use their @uw.edu address if you are trying to add the calendar of someone using UW Google Apps). If you have the proper permissions to view the calendar, it will be added to your calendar list. If you don’t have permission to view the calendar, you will be prompted to request access. You can modify the suggested text of the request if you desire; when finished, click the Send Request button.

How can I add UW events to my UW Google Apps calendar?

All public UW events, departmental calendars, and important academic dates can be found on the central UW Event Calendar. UW Google Apps calendars can be subscribed to the UW Event calendar using these instructions.

How can I share a document with someone or open a document that has been shared with me?

Sharing Your Documents with Others

The important thing to remember about sharing documents in UW Google Apps is that you need to use the @uw.edu address (rather than @u.washington.edu) for your colleagues at the UW when sharing documents with them. That will allow the individuals you are sharing with to access the document with their UW Google Apps service.

Google has provided information about how to share your documents with others. Here are links to some of Google’s documentation:

Accessing Shared Documents

When someone has given you access to a shared document on Google, you should receive an email message with a link to access the document. If you click on the link, you will be prompted to log in with your UW NetID and password (if you are not already logged on to UW Google Apps) and then the document will open in your Web browser. You must have activated your UW Google Apps service in order to access a document that has been shared with you. If you receive a “Google Apps – Invalid Email” error, make sure your UW Google Apps service is activated by going to the Manage UW Google Apps page.

Even if you did not receive an email about a document being shared with you, you can still access any shared documents by logging on to your UW Google Docs site. Your own documents as well as any that have been shared with you will be listed on that page.

How can I share my UW Google Apps site with someone or access a site that has been shared with me?

Sharing Your Site with Others

You can control who has access to view your Google Sites, as well as designating other owners and collaborators. Google has published an overview of site sharing that is a good place to start learning about your site sharing options. For step-by-step instructions, see Google’s Controlling Access to Your Site page. Remember that if you are sharing your site with specific individuals at the UW, you must use their @uw.edu address (rather than @u.washington.edu) so they can access the site using their UW Google Apps service.

Accessing a Shared Site

When someone has given you access to a Google site, either as an owner, collaborator, or viewer, you should receive an email message with a link to access the site. If you click on the link, you will be prompted to log in with your UW NetID and password (if you are not already logged on to UW Google Apps). You must have activated your UW Google Apps service in order to access a site that has been shared with you. If you receive a “Google Apps – Invalid Email” error, make sure your UW Google Apps service is activated by going to the Manage UW Google Apps page.

Even if you did not receive an email about a site being shared with you, you can still access any shared sites by logging on to UW Google Sites. Your own sites as well as any that have been shared with you will be listed on that page.

Privacy & Security

Is my UW Google Apps account secure and private?

This service is being provided by the University of Washington as an email/collaboration system. University policies apply to the service. Google Apps for Education accounts have been customized for optimal educational collaboration. The University of Washington has taken steps to ensure that student data is protected above and beyond a publicly available account. As an organization, Google is currently SAS 70 Type I compliant. Google has promised to uphold a strict privacy policy and to always treat personal information with the utmost care and security. Read more about Google Privacy & Security. Google has agreed that University of Washington student data stored in it’s “Core” Apps (Gmail, Calendar, Sites, and Drive) is subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) when in Google’s possession.

How can I update the sharing or privacy settings of my UW Google Apps calendar?

By default, UW Google Apps calendars are set to not be shared with others. You can elect to share your free/busy time or full calendar details with others in the UW domain or with the entire world by following these steps:

Click on the Calendars tab. Your current sharing settings will be listed in the SHARING column.

Click on the link in the SHARING column to change your calendar sharing options. Choose from the following options:

Share your calendar with anyone (“Make this calendar public”). Be aware that this option will result in your calendar events appearing in public search results of Google Calendar and Google Web Search if you also elect to have the public “see all event details.” You can also elect to share only your free/busy information.

Share your calendar only with others in the UW domain (“Share this calendar with everyone in the organization UW”). You can also elect to share only your free/busy information.

By default information in UW Google Apps accounts is not publicly available. Users can personally configure each tool to meet their specific needs. Information can be protected by only granting access to trusted individuals. Please exercise caution when sharing information with others for added protection.

Leaving

I have all of my email on UW Google Email but I need to move it back to UW Email. How can I move my email?

If your email is currently on UW Google Email but you need to move it to the UW Email service, you can find instructions on how to do so on the Transferring Messages Back to UW Email page. Be aware that the UW Email service for most UW students will be expiring in June 2011.

How do I deactivate my UW Google Apps service and what will happen if I do? Is my data purged? Can I change my mind and reactivate?

You can deactivate your UW Google Apps service via the Manage UW Google Apps page. As long as you are eligible, you may return to the account management page and reactivate the account at any time. Deactivating your account puts it into a suspended state and no data is purged.

What will happen to my UW Google Apps service when I leave the University?

If you are a student, alumnus, or former student, your UW email address and your eligibility for UW Google Apps will continue to exist. You’ll have the service indefinitely, unless Google discontinues the service or the UW-Google contract is terminated. Services for former employees who are not otherwise eligible will expire approximately two pay periods following separation from the University. The offerings within UW Google Apps may change as Google services evolve.